Treasury And IRS Issue Final Regulations On Inversions

On July 11, 2018, the Treasury Department and the IRS published final Treasury regulations on inversion transactions (the "Final Regulations"). The Final Regulations substantially adopt the temporary Treasury regulations issued in April 2016 (the "Temporary Regulations"). Inversion activity has slowed in recent years as a result of anti-inversion measures contained in IRS Notices and prior Treasury regulations, including the Temporary Regulations, which measures made it more difficult to effect an inversion transaction and also reduced tax benefits that made inversion transactions attractive (e.g., tax-efficient access to offshore cash). In addition, as discussed below, certain provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the "TCJA") are intended to discourage inversions, including by making the U.S. more attractive from a tax perspective. Inversion transactions, however, may continue to occur in certain instances and the Treasury Department and the IRS continue